Does riding on Jan 23rd make you a jackball?

[dkel]

The Falls Church City Po-po came by and told my kids to stop sledding on our street because the plows need to get through. I wondered if going for a ride was a bad idea, civically speaking, but I only saw plows in the distance while I was out, so I know I didn’t hold them up. I was as vigilant as possible looking over my shoulder frequently and being prepared to hoist the bike off into a drift. There were several streets in my neighborhood that hadn’t seen a plow when I was out, so I think the plows are spreading themselves pretty thin at the moment. Either that means I was less likely to see a plow on my route, or I was more likely to see a plow on my route because I was only on the few streets that they were plowing.

TL;DR—A vigilant rider wouldn’t be a problem for the plows.

[lordofthemark]

From my perch on the 12th floor, I can say that their have been quite a few people driving, and surely not all were essential employees going to work. Also loads of people walking their dogs and other walkers as well. As long as people know how to stay out of the way appopriately, I think it is fine. Getting exercise and avoiding cabin fever seem like benefits, to me.

When and if travel is banned (as NYC did) then of course that should apply to cycling as well.

I mean it is not like so many people are biking today that it is an issue. More of a novelty I think. Again, as long as you can do so safely, and not add to say, the demand for emergency services.

[PotomacCyclist]

I wouldn’t recommend it for the most part. Especially when the wind starts whipping up. There are 7-ft snow banks along some streets. With the poor visibility, odds are pretty good that a plow driver wouldn’t see a cyclist.

[Rod Smith]

Guilty as charged, but I didn’t get stuck in the middle of the road, blocking the plows. The plows could pass me when we encountered each other going in opposite directions. I wasn’t in the way like a car would have been.

[vern]

If only a plow had come through my neighborhood.

[DismalScientist]

How stupid does the government think we are? You can hear a plow a mile off. Then again, there were complaints in the city about pedestrians not getting out of the way of plows and slowing plowing efforts… Just use common sense.

[PotomacCyclist]

Not always. I walked around (on the sidewalks) for a little bit. When that wind is howling, you’re not going to hear the plows.

As for people not getting out of the way of plows, I can believe it. Drivers, pedestrians and cyclists engage in this passive-aggressive behavior even on non-blizzard days (such as when pedestrians will jaywalk and step into oncoming 40 mph traffic and expect drivers to slam on the brakes, which I’ve actually seen happen several times). Was there an official ban on private traffic today in the DC area? If not, I’m not sure what the government has to do with it. I think it’s smart to advise people to avoid non-emergency trips on days like today. I saw several people walking in the middle of streets and roads. When a lot of people do that, that will definitely slow down plowing operations by a significant amount.

[dasgeh]

I think the big difference with driving is that cars are getting stuck and/or sliding into things and damaging the things. Either is bad. Neither applies to a bike.

[KLizotte]

A friend of mine has been plowing for NPS nonstop the past couple of days and has said that drivers, cyclists, and peds have been getting in his way and occasionally acting stupid. Keep in mind that the folks driving the plows have been working virtually none stop for a couple of days now and are really, really tired. They don’t want to have to deal with an accident or worse.

[vvill]

@dkel 133073 wrote:

The Falls Church City Po-po came by and told my kids to stop sledding on our street because the plows need to get through. I wondered if going for a ride was a bad idea, civically speaking, but I only saw plows in the distance while I was out, so I know I didn’t hold them up. I was as vigilant as possible looking over my shoulder frequently and being prepared to hoist the bike off into a drift. There were several streets in my neighborhood that hadn’t seen a plow when I was out, so I think the plows are spreading themselves pretty thin at the moment. Either that means I was less likely to see a plow on my route, or I was more likely to see a plow on my route because I was only on the few streets that they were plowing.

TL;DR—A vigilant rider wouldn’t be a problem for the plows.

This. I pulled way over every time I saw/heard one. And I talked to one driver from my pulled over position as he pased, who was very friendly and laughed at my choice of… activity.

I did see one non-service motor vehicle out. An old Chevy truck I’ve seen before on my neighbourhood rides. I also pulled way off for it, and it sped by at about 10mph over a reasonable speed in the conditions, same as he always does.

I also saw two XC skiers, a bunch of dog walkers and a snow shoe guy. Most of them were also in the middle of the road – winter biking in these conditions is much more like this than vehicular transportation.

[cvcalhoun]

On our street, it wouldn’t have mattered. No snow plows have yet been by.

More generally, I think there are two differences between bikes and motor vehicles

• Bicyclists can hear the snow plow coming, and get out of its way. It’s just not that hard to drag a bike up onto the sidewalk (or over the curb, even if there is no sidewalk), and keep it there until the snow plow has finished.
• If a bicycle goes out of control, only the bicyclist is likely to get hurt. It won’t crash into parked cars or injure pedestrians.

If you’re not willing or able to get the bike out of the way of snow plows, then you shouldn’t be biking. But if you are, I can’t see the harm.

[Tania]

I’m with klizotte. Give the plow drivers a break. I was out this am after they came through my neighborhood and was able to get my mile in before they came back.

And with a hat and my ski helmet with ear flaps plus the wind, there’s no way I’d hear them until they were close.

[KWL]

A couple of photos from my ride. An entitled driver stopped sideways in the street while two guys cleared the snow off the car. A cyclist stopped off the road to allow a snow plow to go straight through rather than force the driver to go around.

[PotomacCyclist]

@cvcalhoun 133102 wrote:

On our street, it wouldn’t have mattered. No snow plows have yet been by.

More generally, I think there are two differences between bikes and motor vehicles

• Bicyclists can hear the snow plow coming, and get out of its way. It’s just not that hard to drag a bike up onto the sidewalk (or over the curb, even if there is no sidewalk), and keep it there until the snow plow has finished.
• If a bicycle goes out of control, only the bicyclist is likely to get hurt. It won’t crash into parked cars or injure pedestrians.

If you’re not willing or able to get the bike out of the way of snow plows, then you shouldn’t be biking. But if you are, I can’t see the harm.

It wouldn’t have been possible to drag a bike onto the sidewalk yesterday, at least on the roads in Pentagon City and Crystal City. As I mentioned earlier, the initial snowplow runs pushed the early snow onto the sides of the streets, creating snowbanks from 2 to 7 feet high. Even where there weren’t any artificial snowbanks, the rest of the curbs were buried under 10-20 inches of snow. There’s no way any cyclist is going to be able to move onto the sidewalk quickly in those conditions.

In the mid-afternoon, when a new storm wave rolled in, the wind was whipping around the snow. Visibility was extremely poor. I was walking on the sidewalk for a couple brief periods. I don’t think I would have heard a snowplow with all that wind hitting my face and creating a roar. All the sounds would have blended together. If I would have been riding, I would have been focused on maintaining my balance and I would have been distracted by the sound of the wind and all those ice pellets hitting my face.

These are a few photos of the conditions, taken while I was walking around on the nearby sidewalks (not in the street). I really don’t think it would have been safe for anyone to have been biking or driving yesterday. When I was walking around, I only saw one driver (other than the snowplows) and one cyclist (who later returned down the street with his dog on a leash).

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[PotomacCyclist]

@cvcalhoun 133102 wrote:

On our street, it wouldn’t have mattered. No snow plows have yet been by.

More generally, I think there are two differences between bikes and motor vehicles

• Bicyclists can hear the snow plow coming, and get out of its way. It’s just not that hard to drag a bike up onto the sidewalk (or over the curb, even if there is no sidewalk), and keep it there until the snow plow has finished.
• If a bicycle goes out of control, only the bicyclist is likely to get hurt. It won’t crash into parked cars or injure pedestrians.

If you’re not willing or able to get the bike out of the way of snow plows, then you shouldn’t be biking. But if you are, I can’t see the harm.

It wouldn’t have been possible to drag a bike onto the sidewalk yesterday, at least on the roads in Pentagon City and Crystal City. As I mentioned earlier, the initial snowplow runs pushed the early snow onto the sides of the streets, creating snowbanks from 2 to 7 feet high. Even where there weren’t any artificial snowbanks, the rest of the curbs were buried under 10-20 inches of snow. There’s no way any cyclist is going to be able to move onto the sidewalk quickly in those conditions.

In the mid-afternoon, when a new storm wave rolled in, the wind was whipping around the snow. Visibility was extremely poor. I was walking on the sidewalk for a couple brief periods. I don’t think I would have heard a snowplow with all that wind hitting my face and creating a roar. All the sounds would have blended together. If I would have been riding, I would have been focused on maintaining my balance and I would have been distracted by the sound of the wind and all those ice pellets hitting my face.

These are a few photos of the conditions, taken while I was walking around on the nearby sidewalks (not in the street). I really don’t think it would have been safe for anyone to have been biking or driving yesterday. When I was walking around, I only saw one driver (other than the snowplows) and one cyclist (who later returned down the street with his dog on a leash).

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